Integral rain gutter and attaching means therefor



E. E. HARDY May 3, 1966 INTEGRAL RAIN GUTTER AND ATTAGHING MEANS THEREFOR Filed Oct. 21, 1963 E.E. HARDY INVENTOR.

United States Patent Ofi ice 3,248,827 Patented May 3, 1966 3,248,827 INTEGRAL RAIN GUTTER AND ATTACHING MEANS THEREFOR Edgar E. Hardy, Longmeadow, Mass., assignor to Monsanto Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 21, 1963, Ser. No. 317,449 1 Claim. (Cl. 52-11) The present invention relates to a novel building structure and a method for preparing same. More particularly, this invention relates to a novel rain gutter structure for use in the building trade.

The building materials industry is an extremely competitive field. The personnel involved in this area are continuously striving to find or fabricate building materials which present both low cost and improved structural properties. The s-ucessess to date have enabled people of modest means to own their owvn homes. Even in view of these advances, the need for building materials having improved structural properties at reduced cost is more critical than ever.

The plastics industry has played an increasingly important part for the design and fabrication of building materials meeting the requirements set forth above. A building structure which has shown little change in improvement over the years is the rain gutter used to convey water from tops of buildings and houses to designated areas. In general, the means used have comprised several parts; a drip strip which is convention-ally made of galvanized iron, copper or cedar strips for directing water into a rain trough; a face plate or board usually made of pine wood and finally the gutter or trough which is generally made of copper, aluminum or wood and which is affixed to the face board. It has now been found that a uniquely designed one-piece rain gutter structure can be produced at low cost which is easy to install, is corrosion resistant and which exhibits unusually good structural properties.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of this invention to provide an improved rain gutter structure for the building trade having improved structural properties and which can be fabricated at low cost.

Another object is to provide method and means by which to attain the preceding object.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

These and other objects are attained in a one-piece rain gutter structure which comprises a trough, a drip strip, a face plate and a lateral extension designed to be inserted between the roofing shingles and the main roof structure of a building.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a side view, partly in section and with parts broken, illustrating the one-piece rain gutter structure of the present invention.

Referring in detail to FIG. I, there is schematically shown the side view of a one-piece rain gutter structure affixed along the top portion of a building or house 12 adjacent the roof edge by means of a plurality of screws 14, 16, and 18. It is, of course, obvious that other means may be used to affix the rain gutter structure 10 to the building 12 such as nails, pegs and the like.

In brief, the one-piece rain gutter structure comprises a trough 20, a drip strip 22, a face plate 24 and a lateral extension 26. As illustrated in FIG. I, the lateral extension serves as the main support for the rain gutter structure 10 and is afiiiied to the top portion of the house 12 between the roof shingles 2'8 and the main roof support 30. To minimize the tendency for ridge formation in the roof shingles along the terminating edge 32 of the rain gutter structure, the lateral extension can be tapered in the direction of edge 32 as shown in FIG. I.

Drip plate 22 extends outwardly and co-extensively from the lateral extension 26 to permit water to drain directly down into the gutter or trough 20 from the roof surface. However, it should be pointed out that the drip extension is optional and it is not within the scope of this invention to require the use of a drip strip.

Connecting lateral extension 26 and trough 20 is a face plate 24 which is afiixed directly to the side of the house 12. The plurality of screws 14 and 16 serve to strengthen the connection between the rain gutter system and the house. It is, of course, apparent that the means used to aflix the face plate to the side of the house may vary considerably.

Materials of construction which can be utilized to fabricate the one-piece rain gutter structure of the present invention can be of any type which are capable of extrusion to produce articles having good rigidity and reasonable strength and durability. These would include such materials as polyesters, polystyrene, styrene-butadiene-acrylonitrile graft and/or mechanical polyblends, alkyl acrylate and methacrylate polymers and copolymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers, chlorosulfonated polyethylene, chlorinated polyethylene and ethylenevinyl acetate c'oploymers which are graft and/or mechanically blended with polyvinyl chloride homopolymers and copolymers, polyvinyl halide homopolymers and copolymers including interpolymers, mixtures or plasticized versions of same. Also included would be extrudable metals such as copper, aluminum, etc. It is, of course, desirable to use extrudable materials which have high corrosion resistance and require a minimum of maintenance and care. Fortunately, many of the extrudable rigid materials will meet these requirements.

As earlier noted, the present invention is intended to provide an improved one-piece rain gutter structure having improved physical properties which can be fabricated at extremely low cost. The oneapiece rain gutter structure of this invention may be extruded from a die and cut to desired lengths. Consequently, the separate manufacture of component parts is eliminated.

The above description and particularly the drawing are set forth for the purpose of illustration only. Many variations and modifications thereof will be obvious to those skilled in the art and can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention herein described.

What is claimed is:

An improved one-piece rain gutter structure which comprises a trough, a face plate which forms one side of said trough and which extends above and below said 3 trough to provide a surface for attachment to a building structure and a lateral extension connected to the upper part of said face plate which is designed to be inserted between the roofing shingles and the main roof structure of a building, said lateral extension being tapered in the direction of its terminating edge.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 4 FOREIGN PATENTS 225,177 11/1959 Australia. 1,278,316 10/1961 France.

11,810 11/1911 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES House and Home publication, November 1958, pp. 30, 31, and 207.

0 FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

HENRY C. SUTHERLA'ND, JACOB L. NACKENOFF,

Examiners. 

